At a recent session held at MATRC Summit 2014, panelists discussed how to put together the telehealth dream team that will use smartphones to coordinate assistance and activities for people needing or receiving rehabilitation.
The moderator and panelists included Winifred D. Bragg MD, an Interventional Spine Specialist, Ellen R. Cohn Associate Dean at the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, David Brennan Director for Telehealth Initiatives for the MedStar Institute for Innovation, Janet Brown Director Health Care Services in SLP, ASHA, and Brooke Hatfield, Language Pathologist at MedStar NRH Rehabilitation Network.
Basically, the dream team would need to provide:
- Speech therapists to look at impairments from the clinician’s perspective and be comfortable using telespeech
- Physical therapists to identify and address impairments and work with the defects
- Pharmacists to do remote counseling on medications and also monitor blood pressure and blood glucose levels
- Occupational therapists to provide OT for lifestyle modifications and education
- Certified dietitians to provide the appropriate nutrition expertise
- Social workers to work with special needs such as helping the aging population deal with brain injuries and chronic conditions
- Physiatrists with training in physical medicine and rehabilitation to help the rehabilitation team with information on how to handle medical care along with therapy and be able to communicate with the primary care physician
The panelists all agreed that telerehabilitation is invaluable to use in many cases to assess, intervene, provide care coordination, and to educate. Technology is not in the way and very often improves rehabilitation efforts. Even though the panelists agreed that technology is not a barrier, other barriers do exist such as getting reimbursed and dealing with licensure to practice in another state.